Stanford Duo Secures $2M For Accelerator “For Student Founders By Student Founders”
Two recent Stanford graduates have raised $2 million to launch Breakthrough Ventures, a hybrid accelerator for college student and recent graduate founders across the US, according to TechCrunch.
The program mirrors how top universities often turn class projects into venture-scale companies by packaging funding, infrastructure, and investor exposure into a single pathway. While Breakthrough recruits founders nationally, much of its deal flow and decision-making remains anchored in Stanford-connected spaces, a dynamic that shapes who sets early company terms and captures ownership at the earliest stages.
Funding, Infrastructure, and Formation Rolled Into One Program
Breakthrough Ventures plans to allocate the $2 million over a three-year period, with a goal of backing at least 100 startups. Founders can receive grants of up to $10,000 and may qualify for an additional $50,000 investment upon completing the program, co-founder Itbaan Nafi said.
Breakthrough also ties technical infrastructure to fundraising readiness through compute credits provided via Microsoft and the Nvidia Inception program. The program includes legal support and mentorship, which reduces early formation friction and standardizes company setup for later investors.
A National Accelerator Anchored At Stanford
Breakthrough uses a hybrid model with in-person meetups hosted at major venture firms and a Demo Day at Stanford. Co-founders Roman Scott and Nafi began shaping the model after organizing Stanford-based Demo Days starting in 2024, then expanded the concept once teams from those events began gaining traction.
Scott finished his Stanford undergraduate degree in 2024 and completed a master’s degree the following year. Nafi remains a Stanford master’s candidate. The pair brought on Raihan Ahmed early last year to lead the accelerator, then raised money from Mayfield, Collide Capital, and Stanford founder alumni, TechCrunch reported.
Competition Is About Access, Not Ideas
Breakthrough joins a field of student-focused funding programs, including UC Berkeley’s Free Ventures and MIT’s Sandbox Innovation Fund, alongside Stanford-linked initiatives like StartX, LaunchPad, and Cardinal Ventures.
Scott described Breakthrough as a program built “by student founders, for student founders,” framing it as an answer to the difficulty students face accessing capital and investor networks. Nafi likened its cross-campus appeal to Stanford’s Treehacks, while noting that the recent fundraise transforms Breakthrough from a periodic event into a longer-term platform supporting founders over time.
Image credit: Breakthrough Ventures
